One year.

Beautiful sweet Amelia,

Today you turn one year old-12 months-52 weeks, 365 days...

It is so hard to believe that this year has already passed us by.

Mia, you are simply a joy. You are so loving and so smart. I have loved the last year-spending everyday (minus 2)  with you. You are my little nugget and such a huge blessing in our family.

You are 29.75 lbs. Your rolls are starting to thin out since you are moving all the time. You can walk but still prefer to crawl. You go up the stairs and back down at least 10 times an hour. You are very much a ham and will do ANYTHING to make people laugh. Your favorite trick is "going bananas" where you dance really fast then laugh hysterically at your self.

You wear 18month clothes. Creeping into  24 months. You wear a size 4 shoe. I can not wait to buy you squeaky shoes to listen to your little feet squeak across the floor. 

Your favorite toys are your Disney Princess Castle and Simple Piano. You love music and you sing all.day. 

You have 2 sort of loveys. Your bunny and chocolate bear.

You eat everything-except deli turkey meat. You adore hummus & pretzels and fruit and all vegetables. You also love juice boxes. You feel so big when you have one.

Your best friends are your sisters. They have adopted you into their sisterhood and it is the most precious bond to witness. You love going into their room and playing dolls with them. You will sit and hold a baby and wait for them to tell you to "put it to bed". 

You do not like to be alone. You always want someone with you-which luckily you aren't picky as long as it's someone. However, you would pick me as your someone if you had the choice.

You sleep good-once you get to sleep. But you don't like the going to sleep process. I am blaming it on teeth. You had NONE til you were 10 months old. Now you have 8. Insane.

Your learning style is "show me once." Once you see something done, you've got it down. This has helped me tons! (Holding your cup, brushing your teeth, flushing the potty) it has also been a challenge. ( opening the deck gate, loading dish soap in the dishwasher, turning on the blow dryer)

Your favorite shows are doc mcstuffins, jake and the never land pirates, and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. You dance to all of the theme songs.

Your favorite princesses are Ariel and Cinderella. You love to make them talk at your princess castle. 

Amelia, I am so thankful God gave you to our family. You are going to teach us so much and continue to bless our family with your radiant personality. 

Happy first birthday baby nugget.

We love you.

7 months Mia Margaret!

Happy 7th month birthday Mia Margaret!!! You are such a big girl now!!

You have moved from "liquid baby food" to some with a substance. You liked mashed sweet potatoes the most!

At your doctor's appointment a few weeks ago-you were 21lbs 6.2 oz and you are 27inches long!

You are FULL of sweetness. You smile 99% of the time with that 1% when you are exhausted.

You adore Madyson and Aubrie Kate. They think you are pretty darn cute as well!!


You are almost crawling in "proper" crawling form. You have finally learned to get your belly up off the ground and rock!

You also pull up now-you are very wobbly so I usually make you sit! We are lowering your bed this weekend.

Speaking of bed-you quit sleeping this month (not cool) you despise naps and have been up a lot. I am praying once that tooth you've been working on since JUNE comes through-sleep will be better!

Your schedule right now goes as followed:

You nurse around 6am then go back to sleep til 9/10ish

You wake up and eat Apples and Oatmeal

Then you play and hang out til around 12. At 12 you have a 5oz bottle and a veggie.

Before this month you would nap 12:45-2:20 but this month you boycotted that. So instead we snuggle and watch cartoons.

We get sisters from school and you love car rider line. It's your quiet time.

Once we get home you usually play with them and will take a short (30 min) nap in the 3-6pm time frame.

You eat dinner around 7 and have another 5oz bottle-

Bath-and play with daddy when he gets home. Then you nurse around 9 and go to sleep :)

You are such a joy and this month have been so wonderful as mommy worked on sister's school race. Such at trooper being up at the school a lot!! We are so thankful for you Mia Margaret!!! Happy 7 months!

6 months!

Happy 6 month birthday Mia Margaret!! You are half way to your first birthday!!

Right now you are maintaining your weight at 18-20lbs. You wear a few 9 month outfits,a few 12 month outfits and a few 18 month outfits :) you are in a size 3 diaper.

You LOVE to eat. Anything. And everything. You are loosing interest in nursing (which is fine with me!) right now you wake up and eat oatmeal and fruit 4 hours later you will have a bottle and some veggies (usually a green blend) then 4 hours later a bottle and a small amount of avocado or sweet potatoes then another bottle a few hous later and bed. 

You have LOTS of new tricks.

You drink out of a straw now-

You sit up by yourself

You scoot around the floor

You have found your voice and love to talk (loudly) to anyone who will listen.

You love attention and will smile and coo at anyone who looks at you.

And you think your sisters are the funniest thing. You belly laugh at them-all the time!!

You still do not have any teeth-but they are coming! 

You are an extremely happy baby-and make us SO happy!!

The most asked question is "are y'all going to have more kids?" We always felt like 3 would be a great number. But now that we have 3-we aren't so sure. I love how madyson and aubrie are with each other-very close. There is a 5 year age gap between aubrie and Mia-i would love for Mia to have a sibling buddy-but we will just see. We are still very open to adoption and have even talked about fostering to adopt. We are leaving it up to God-he knows what our family will look like anyway!

This month we are transitioning into a whole new aspect of "products we love" We still use our Blooming Bath, Cloth Diapers, and Honest Company Diapers weekly. Everything else is changing! I will keep you updated! 

Help?

I am an extremely "IN CHARGE" type person. I like things done my way and very seldom do I give in and ask for help.

This became apparent when I was in college and in charge of our tribe's Homecoming Float-and has continued throughout my event planning career. Now as a "Full-Time Mom" it is still into play. Help? what is that?

I've got this.

Until....I am broken. Todd only got to spend 1 day with us at the hospital. Then it was back to work. So all of a sudden I was 1) recovering from major surgery 2)a mother of a newborn, a home schooled 5 year old and an active 7 year old. I could not drive, I was encouraged to "stay down and rest" as much as possible.

Todd called his Step-mom who lives in Atlanta and she meet us at our house when we got home from the hospital and stayed the remaining of the first week. She cleaned, she toted the kids around, she shopped for us. She allowed me to get adjusted.

Then our friends stepped in-they brought meals every other night for us-so I didn't have to cook. They took Aubrie Kate during the day so I could rest...

My mom works and lives 40 minutes away-but she has had the girls spend the night, taken them to do things, driven me places, etc.

Help-it is friends and family loving on you and lifting you up. It is not a sign of weakness and it doesn't make you less of a mother. It is what we are called to do as Christians-Help each other, LOVE each other.

Todd and I are very thankful for all the love and help we have received over the past few weeks!

Life with 3 kids, a little bit about Amelia and post c-section recovery.

It's been 2 weeks since little miss Amelia joined our family. I thought (for my memory) I would share how life with 3 kids girls is going-and how my C-section recovery is going!

First-the first week home was-A Lot. Amelia came on 3/3-we had planned Aubrie's birthday party for 3/7 (actual birthday 3/11)

So we got home on 3/5-Todd and the girls had their first tball practice that night. Aubrie's party was 3/7-we had family here-everyone celebrating "The A's) which left Miss Madyson-feeling very left out.

at aubrie's skating party-no I did  not skate.:)

By 3/9-She was falling apart. We both sat in the kitchen crying-5 minutes later-she was better-it took some reassurance to let her know Mommy and Daddy haven't forgotten her-It was just a big week.

Other than that-we haven't had any jealousy issues or other problems. The girls had spring break this week-and I was home all week by myself with all 3 of them. We survived. Not being able to drive wasn't fun-but we made the best of it. Aubrie Kate shared her birthday presents and we made jewelry, colored, did crafts and all sorts of creative things!

Amelia is an excellent baby. I am sure as she "wakes up" it will be more difficult. But right now she has herself on a schedule. She sleeps majority of the day-eats every 3 hours-sleeps a 5 hour stretch each night.

She only fusses when you are changing her clothes/diaper. SHE LOVES being bathed. Totally doesn't surprise me. She always stretched out in womb when I took a bath.

We have a "blooming Bath" and I love it. I know she doesn't looked thrilled in the picture but I was trying to get one without my hands in the picture-but she kept falling asleep-so this is the best I could do this time. I promise Ill get a good one when I have some extra hands.

She is still in preemie clothes-but is slowly moving up to newborn. She is very snuggley and loves to be held.

She loves her Honest Company Diapers. And I received many compliments on them in the hospital. When she thickens up we will switch to cloth diapers and use the Honest diapers when we are out and about.

Aubrie Kate and Madyson both love holding her and picking out her clothes. Aubrie will make sure you wash your hands BEFORE you touch her. She is the GermPolice.

This is my 3rd C-section and the recovery has been great. I was up 12 hours after surgery-showered the next day-pain has been ZERO (praise the Lord). I did have a little set back this weekend. Friday I decided to do the housework and did too much. I have been ordered to bed for the rest of the weekend to relax and they said that should fix the problem.

celebrating St. Patrick's day! Amelia got to come out of her sling for the picture :)

This week we have our 2 week old check up AND AK's 5 year old check up and shots =( So that should be....interesting.

I am loving having 3 girls. I find myself praising God and crying 75% of the time I look at Amelia.  It was really hard the last 4 years wanting a baby and giving it all to Him to handle. I thought His timing was wrong-and that it wasn't fast enough. But God knows. I tweeted this the other day-and want to share again: If you desire to be a mother-keep praying. God hears your prayers and His timing is best!

Amelia Margaret: A Birth Story

Saturday night, March 2 we had dinner at our favorite restaurant with Todd"s Stepdad and Godmother. We arrived at home around 9pm. The girls got a bath and then went to bed.

It was around 11pm when I told Todd that I just did not feel well. I was having contractions-but they didn't hurt-so I figured they were Braxton Hicks. I have said all along-that Amelia was going to be my labor baby and come when she was ready (she has had a very fiery spirit since day 1)

Around 1 we downloaded a contraction timing app and started timing them. At first they were irregular 8-10 minutes lasting about 30 seconds each. Finally, around 2am they were 6 minutes apart and 59seconds to 1 minute apart. I got up to use the bathroom and as I walked back to the bed a constant trickle was running down my leg. I told Todd I wasn't sure, but I think my water was breaking...slowly. (because the big gush would have just been too made for tv movieish)

At 3am-with contractions now 5minutes apart lasting over a minute and very strong-I decided to call my mom (who was 40 minutes away) and ask her to come over so we could go to the hospital and get checked out. I wasn't in pain, but it was very uncomfortable and I just did not feel good.

She arrived 30 minutes later (Lord knows how fast she was driving) and we headed to the hospital. Our drive is usually 20 minutes but in Broadus drama fashion-we had to run into a police chase-a wreck-and make every red light.

By the time we checked in at 4:45am, I was uncomfortable-yet still...no pain. The nurse did all the paper work, asked a gizillion questions, and finally around 6:15 checked me...1 cm. Really? (I was for sure thinking at this point, we were going to be 9 and I was going to have a natural delivery) They did start an IV (a whole other blog post about how it took 4 tries and a lot of digging to finally get that) of fluid-just in case. Then they left us to rest-around 9:45 the on call doctor (whom I had never met and was not in my doctor's practice) came in and gave the long speech about how if I haven't progressed anymore then they would send me home and go from there.

I assured her I was okay with that-but I needed to know why I didn't feel good-I needed Amelia to be checked out-just in case.

She checked me and sure enough-progression. She said, well okay-we are having a baby today. The nurses cheered, Todd cheered. And at this point-My mind goes into a blur.

From 10:00 am-10:20am there were a lot of people in and out of the room. At one point I noticed a familiar face-Cathy-my nurse from my horrible labor/delivery of Madyson walked in. We bonded that day-almost 7 years ago. And I was relieved to see her. Todd got suited up for surgery-They hooked all sorts of things up to me. I remember the anesthesiologist (whom I fell in love with according to all) coming in and getting the run down of my history. Then at 10:30 they wheeled me back to the operating room.

This is usually the scariest time for me. 1) I am alone because Todd isn't allowed back there until I am ready to be opened. 2)everyone has one mask and I can't see who is who. 3) it is cold.

But this time, it was like a slow motion movie. I took in account the scrub techs 1 looked like Ma from golden girls. The other had on colored eyeshadow and deep brown eyes. Cathy was there, along with my other nurse (still don't know her name) and the anesthesiologist. I do not remember the spinal block at all. I was too busy focusing on the scrub techs and nurses counting all the supplies. I don't remember getting moved from bed to bed. But I do remember my legs going numb. Crazy feeling.

I remember asking for Todd to get here. and Cathy getting on the phone, calling the room and him coming in. The doctor that I had never met and who looked like Barbie came in. And all I could think about is how Dr. Barbie was delivering my baby and how much I loved the anesthesiologist. Todd came in and sat beside me. He was talking and rubbing my head and I couldn't talk. My oxygen mask was muffling the sounds of my voice and he kept saying "HUH?" So finally I told him to hush. The anesthesiologist stayed in my face the whole time. He was updating me on what was going on and I was telling him how much I could feel. In the past the whole stretching of skin and such isn't painful-this time it was very uncomfortable.

He dropped the curtain and there in my face was this TINY little baby. The doctor said, "how big did you think she was going to be?" I remember clearly saying 6lbs.

Then I laid down and it felt like I was having a heart attack. The pressure on my sternum was crazy. I told the anesthesiologist this and he adjust medicines and it felt better. I don't remember seeing Amelia again. I don't remember Todd taking her out. I don't remember leaving surgery.

My next memory I was being wheeled back into my room and people were in there. The only people I remember seeing is 1) Todd. 2) a very concerned nurse and 3) Aubrie Kate. She was explaining how nasty Amelia's belly button was.

I remember wanting  to hold her so bad. The nurse and Todd were talking and he was taking pictures.

I don't remember how I got to hold her-but I remember it was only for a few minutes. A practitioner had come and determined Amelia needed the NICU because of her breathing.

this was my baby-she was fine. She was little but so was I. She needed mommy-not the NICU, I kept telling them.

I remember them taking her away and that was it. Apparently, I sat and had conversations with family members. I had a bad case of the shakes and my eyelids and chin itched like hell.

Over the next few hours-I remember nothing.

It wasn't until around 7pm when I came too. I was in a different room. Todd was there and my nurse was the lovely April who had taken care of me after my surgery with Aubrie Kate. I don't remember many conversations we had. I am sure Todd explained everything to me. He had even been down to take pictures for me.

Not exactly the first images you want to see of the child you have prayed and waited on for over 4 years.

I needed to see my baby.. I asked April what I could do to get down there. And she said 12 hours after surgery I could get up-that would be 10:50. So at 10:30pm she came in and took out my catheter and my IV line and all the other contraptions I was hooked up on and I got out of the bed and walked down to the wheelchair. She took me down tot he NICU and we scrubbed in. Amelia was in this tiny, little, dark room (#15) by herself. She was in the incubator all hooked up with numbers flashing and beeps and cords everywhere. I stood up and just cried. I could stick my hands into the little holes but that was it. She was just laying there-working hard to breath. And I was on the outside-with no way to help her. THE. WORST. FEELING.

I prayed and cried and prayed and cried and really prayed. About an hour and a half after standing over her bed-her NICU nurse, Becca walked in and said she had talked to the dr. and we could try taking her off the machines so I could hold her.

Becca unhooked everything and swaddled her up. She pulled in a chair for me and I sat there for 2 hours holding my sweet baby. As as talked and prayed her little self calmed down. Her numbers were right where they were suppose to be and she was showing major signs of improvement. I left the NICU around 2:45am. When I got back to the room I had to pump to get food down to little miss-who was still not back on her machines! (she had a feeding line in and being so small-I didn't want to attempt breastfeeding and making her have to work hard) After dinner was "served" I attempted to go to sleep with every staff member coming in and out, checking vitals, blood work,e tc.

Around 7am-Todd got up and went down to see her. She was doing amazing and would be up to our room once the doctor made rounds.

I had breakfast (BLAH) and then walked down to the NICU to see her and meet MS. Jo, her daytime nurse. She needed to eat-so I fed her and held her til the doctor came in. He released her and I rushed back to the shower!

Amelia was "checken In" to the well-baby nursery. Then she was brought straight to me.

We left room 3305 on Tuesday at 1pm. Just a little over 48 hours after labor, surgery, NICU and all that jazz.

It's been a week today-that we have been home with Miss Mia (still working on what we are going to call her) and it has been heavenly.

I have healed wonderfully. I have til Sunday then I can drive and take a bath again. Then 4 more weeks til a normal routine.

We have had to go back to the hospital 3x for weight checks. I can say she is on the up and up and getting every oz back she had lost after birth.

We are so excited and so blessed that God has given us our sweet baby #3. Thank you all so much for praying with us over the past few years for her. We never imagined it would have happened this way but we are grateful that it has.

Amelia Margaret Broadus

aka Baby #3

Born 3/3/13

5lbs 13oz

19 3/4 inches long

(click her name for video)

18 days til she arrives...

4.5 years ago when Todd and I began trying and praying for Baby #3 - I had no idea the roller coaster we would be launched on and how long it would take. It has been a long journey-but we have grown so much over the last few years-I honestly can say-God's timing is amazing.

Amelia will be here in 18 days (or less if she makes her debut on her own) and her room is finished and waiting for her arrival.

I have dreamed about what Baby #3's room would look like and my plan has transitioned over the years. The day we found out I was indeed pregnant I began the real plan for this nursery. My favorite colors are Cilantro and Robin's Egg Blue. I knew I wanted the nursery to be an ombre of the two colors-perfect for a girl or a boy. After months of building my design plan-I showed Madyson (my consultant) and she said, "That's cute for a boy-but what if it's a girl?" I told her I was done with pink and purple. 7 years-2 girls-you get kind of burnt out. So she said, "well, what about coral?" Coral was good. It was girly-but not overused. We also decided on some pops of yellow-because "that's a happy color" ;)

I knew I didn't want this room to be matchy-matchy. I wanted it to be collected-unique-not "perfect" and have a twist of Disney. (since she is our Disney baby)

So I began with the most important part-the crib. Our friends Joseph & Jennifer were in Dallas and swung by Ikea for me and picked up this crib. I love it. It is simple and has a modern touch.

We decided to not use a bumper-I had found some cotton duct material at Hobby lobby that I wanted to use as a crib skirt-Luckily my friend Melissa (who has an amazing etsy shop & facebook page) was willing to make me a simple crib skirt. I paired it with a Target Clearance Crib sheet and monogrammed blanket that belonged to my grandmother. Over the crib is a garage sale frame {painted white} and an Office Depot Engineer Print {$4.00} of Cinderella's Castle. I took the photo on our last Disney trip ;)

The changing area was a big pain in the rear. I needed a small changing table-that could also hold clothes-We found this piece on craigslist {3 hours away}

so Todd went to pick it up. Madyson & Aubrie Kate painted it from blue to coral and I made the changing pad cover out of left over fabrics.

We hung a floating shelf above to hold some changing items-and Madyson's teacher (and one of my Laguna sisters{{Like a sorority sister}}gave me the plate that reads "for this child, I have prayed")

The art work above the changing table is a family art project. We adopted the Russian Nesting Dolls as a symbol for our 3 girls. One night we all sat around the dining table making this little piece of art. Then Aubrie Kate and I took it to Hobby lobby to have it framed. I love it because the girls really took pride in helping make this for little sister.

I needed a place for our queen bed and so it stayed in the nursery {for those longggg nights ahead}} I upholstered the headboard in a green duct fabric-paired it with a vintage quilt and Melissa made the cute chevron pillow for me :) Above the bed is a frame I found while junkin-with Amelia's initials. The little dress was made for me (29 years ago) and Madyson and Aubrie both wore it-

The chair was an accident! I had found one at a thrift store I was going to recover-but my belly got big fast and I didn't have the muscle power to upholster it-so Todd suggested we just buy a new one in a fabric we liked. We new we wanted houndstooth print in the room {{ROLL TIDE}} and one day I was looking on facebook and saw where a friend was selling this chair for a steal! We purchased it and it was perfect.

 Madyson and I made the scripture art above the chair it reads: "Amelia grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon her."

 On the opposite wall is 2 more Lowe's floating shelves. Each has a Target Clearance frame with mats wrapped in leftover scrapbook paper. 1 has a maternity shot from our babymoon and the other has a page from a baby book we found in Todd's mom's stuff. There are a few toys (1 was made by Todd's great uncle 28 years ago) and the embroidery hoops were Todd's grandmothers-I took 2 of his mom's shirts and used that to fill the hoops. I love this little nook.

 Lastly, the little chiffarobe that holds her clothes. I found this at a garage sale for $40. Todd and I created a paint color out of some left over paint that we had. We then did a drybrush technique and some light sanding.

Amelia's room is ready-and I love the simplicity of it. We cannot wait to welcome her in a few days!

**Please excuse the quality of the photos-my memory card decided it didn't like the computer and after 2 weeks I got frustrated and just snapped some with the old android**

A little post :)

Friday night we had my family over to celebrate my dad's retirement! He has been a faithful employee of the USPS for over 25 years. He worked the night shift-all of my life-so he missed out on a lot of things. But I always knew he was doing it to provide for us-and I am so thankful he has the chance to enjoy life now!

Me with no makeup (SCARY!) I was so busy getting everything ready for the night-I forgot to put it on. Oh well-it was just family.

Saturday-we met my mom and did some shopping. I needed to pick up a few items for Amelia and we had a babies r us gift card so that was great! We also began the debate over strollers-Needless to say-we did not get one! Once we got home our friends Bridget and Ken came over to hang out. Bridget is 21 weeks pregnant with a little boy! B&K and I go way back to elementary days-then as grown ups. I was their wedding coordinator-and now we are expecting together! (and their daughter Makayla is Aubrie Kate's BFF)

Sunday-we went to church then I earned my Meanest Mom Badge-Then we had girl scouts-then we went to our friends Carla and Michael's for the Super Bowl!

Monday was low-key. AK and I hung out-planned her bday party-and picked up Amelia's bedding (here's a sneak)

Then we went to our church's clothes/food pantry to work. Here are the some pictures of the impromptu fashion show we put on at the end of the night :)

Kristen and I modeling our "Say Yes To The Dress Your Bump" look. We are 4 weeks apart-both pregnant with our 3rd girl!

Jennifer is my sweet-sweet friend! Her husband Joseph was my "boss" when I worked for the church.

These are our life group girls (minus Mallory-who's grandfather passed away suddenly-please pray for her) Kristen, Me, Jennifer and Carla :) I love this group of girls!

A Babymoon!

Todd and I are doing a lot of new things this pregnancy!

With Madyson-we were newly married-young-still in school. We just had to make it through her pregnancy (preterm labor, bed rest etc.)

With Aubrie Kate-we were in shock. We had just finished year 1 with Madyson and we were busy starting careers and trying to enjoy her pregnancy (6 months of morning sickness...)

So with Amelia-we are really trying to embrace this pregnancy - it really is such a blessing to us. We decided to take a "babymoon"-a trip prior to the baby for mom and dad.

We haven't been away together since our 5 year anniversary to Chicago-So we are LONG overdue!

We discussed places to go from the mountains-to the beach...even Disney :) After hours of searching I finally gave up.

The next day Todd was at work at messaged me "I have planned our trip".

He chose for us to go to Savannah, Ga. I have been wanting to go to Savannah since I first saw Paula Dean on Food Network years ago. It's a travel destination that was on my bucket list!

So Todd planned our trip-hotel and all :) and we were off for our relaxing vacation :)

our original plan was to fly out Thursday morning. But after 9 consecutive days of rain, snow was in the forecast for MS. Todd text me at 3:45 Wednesday afternoon and say "get ready, we fly out at 5:15". Talk about anxiety. I had not packed, I had not made plans for the girls for that evening...nor gotten them ready for the rest of the week. And I had 25min to do all of this. I threw clothes in a suitcase (forgot pjs, lounge clothes and brown shoes...but we had underwear.) Rushed to get the girls situated. Luckily, my mom hadn't left work yet, so she grabbed the girls for us. And with 10 minutes to spare-we made it to our flight. When we landed in Savannah the pilot said "its a beautiful 77 degrees.." So those sweaters I packed...maybe a bit warm. We checked in to our hotel and by this time it was 10pm. I was starving and my nerves shaken. So we found a little pub/brewery that was close and had quesadillas (my.most.favorite.food) After eating, we returned to the hotel for our first night of solid sleep. It was glorious. Thursday morning we woke up at 8:30 to facebook pictures of snow back home! That sunshine outside the window was looking nice!! We ventured out through Savannah to Goose Feathers...a place I had heard about for a Belgium waffle. (my favorite breakfast food) we indulged

 and then did some sightseeing via the trolley. Being 29.75 weeks pregnant, walking long distance is hard. So Todd arranged a hop on/hop off tour (similar to the one we did in Chicago) so I could see and enjoy the historic district without running myself ragged. We ate lunch riverfront at the shrimp factory. Their shrimp and grits were amazing.

 Afterwards we went back to the hotel and took a long nap. When we woke up Todd was ready for dinner...i was still full from lunch. So we hung out at the hotel, planned some activities for the rest of the weekend and then headed to Boars head on the river for dinner. This was my favorite meal of the week (more on that later). I had a Savannah Steak Salad that was to die for. The atmosphere was romantic and the prices were reasonable and the service was great. Afterwards we got googly- eyed at the Savannah Candy shop-then went back to the hotel and relaxed.

view of Amelia (with Todd asleep in the background) she got her first sticker a "My first trolley tour" from Mr. W @ the trolley station.

My plan for the trip was to sleep, sight-see and take in time with Todd. It's so rare that we get to be alone. He is truly my best friend because he allowed me all of the above-plus he planned a few fun things! :)

Friday morning we woke up and had professional photos taken in Forsyth Park. This was the first time we have had pictures done of the two of us since we were married! Dana-the owner of Minibird Photography has become a good friend of ours! We both (will) have Amelia's!

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We did some sight-seeing and shopping and then another nap...followed by a carriage ride and a yummy pizza dinner at Vinny VanGoGos :)

The Olde Pink House where the carriage picked us up :)

Saturday was a very relaxed day. We woke up-did some antiquing, real estate looking,

 and then lunch at Bernie's Oyster House. (no oysters for me but BOY did they look good!!) it was a very comfortable atmosphere with really good pub food.

After lunch we went back to the hotel and took a nap. I promise the best part of the trip! Then we got up and headed to Leopold's for Ice Cream. I had a coconut scoop in a sugar cone. Almost a week later....still craving it.

Its not for sale-but if it was-It would be our house.

We went back to the hotel-got dressed and headed back down to the riverfront to have dinner-again-at Boar's Head. I am not usually a repeat eater on vacation. But yall-let me tell you. This is an awesome place. Nestled right on the river front, The restaurant is situated so you can see the boats passing by. We both ordered the Savannah steak salad. It's a bed of salad with hand cut (and amazingly seasoned) meat. Topped with fried onions (really thin fried hand battered onion rings) and served with a honey mustard dressing. Simple and FILLING. The service here is amazing. Our glasses were never more than 1/2 empty, our table was always cleaned of dirty dishes, and when we got ready to leave...our server walked us to the door to wish us farewell. For real. Off the Chart service.

Our favorite part about this restaurant is the open kitchen. You can watch your food be prepared and how long it "sits" in the window. Let me tell you-on this night. Chef Philip (the owner) was working Expo (pulling out the food preparing it to go to the tables) and NO dish sat for more than 1minute 20 sec. (yes, I timed it.) You can feel his pride for his dishes and his staff is very confident in their preparation of plates.

After dinner-we did one more "tour" The Ghost and Gravestones tour. It was a fun experience (not scary) and learned a lot of history about Savannah's darker side :)

We went back to the hotel-to bed-then to the airport the next day. It was an amazing trip-so thankful for the chance to go!